Our Gondolas

Teresa

Teresa is both one of the oldest yet, newest American gondola on the water today.

She was constructed in 1984. Her builder took a year to construct the gondola. All he had was a plan for a single gondola frame (rib) and photos of gondolas in Venice to work with. This was before the internet days! Teresa is one of the best American replicas of a gondola in the US. She is built from fine exotic woods with great attention to detail and craftsmanship.

Teresa originally graced the waterways of Marina Del Ray back in the ’80’s. She lived there for 5 years bringing fun and romance to the residents of Los Angels. Eventually she was retired and put into storage. Fortunately her owner was able to store her inside a warehouse which kept her in prime condition. After over 20 years her owner and builder had to put her up for sale. That is where her new journey began.

Teresa was put up for sale there were many admirers that were interested in her beautiful curving lines. She sat waiting for someone to fall for her, to take her home and return her to the beautiful gondola she always was. One of the gondoliers here in Southern California found her and he was the one. He has spent the last year refurbishing her and enhancing her beauty. (Don’t mention plastic surgery around her, she is touchy about her age)

After a years worth of tender loving refurbishing Teresa was back to her original glory, and more. We here at Gondola Paradiso were fortunate to stumble upon Teresa. After weeks of discussions Gondola Paradiso and Teresa’s owner came to an agreement that allows us to have her here in the Channel Islands Harbor today. With one “baby” out in the world Teresa’s owner is now focusing on breathing the life into another Venetian Gondola he found.

Batela a coa de gambaro

Our Batela a coa de gambaro is currently under construction at Northwestern School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, Washington. It is being built by their small craft boat building class for the 2013-14 school year. At 30 feet in length it is the largest “small craft” that they have ever built at the school.

The Batela a coa de gambaro is a unique vessel, there are only a handful in the entire world. All of them reside in Venice, Italy. This Batela will be the first of it’s type in the New World. It will have a 6 person passenger capacity. With the passenger seats removed it converts to a gondola that can have up to 4 rowers.

The Batela a coa de gambaro will be arriving at Gondola Paradiso to start taking out passengers in Early August. (Unfortunately our new boat will not be completed this year. The current completion date is for March of 2015.)